i don't mean to be a bother, but have you seen this girl?
by Waffles Of Doom
Summary: Callie ran away, leaving the Fosters (and Brandon) completely heartbroken. But, family doesn't leave family behind, and there's no way the Foster's are going to give up on one of their own - no matter how much they have to go through to find her, no matter what authorities they have to fight to get her back (post finale fic)
1. one

**Chaos.**

That was the only way to describe the Foster household when they woke up Sunday morning to find Callie, and all of her stuff gone.

Crying, shouting, hurried phonecalls only to realise Callie had left her cellphone on the kitchen table, Lena trying her best to console the absolutely terrified, hysterical Jude, Marianna desperately wracking her brains in an attempt to figure out if Callie had mentioned anywhere she would go, the girl trying her hardest not to burst into tears as she scanned Callie's instagram, checked her contacts..

_Chaos._

And Brandon couldn't do anything but watch as the chaos unfolded, watch as his grandmother made cup after cup of coffee, and tried to get everyone to eat breakfast, watch as Lena's parents arrived back after two hours of searching the area for Callie, watch as Mike rolled up two hours later shaking his head sadly. All he could do was watch, because he knew it was partly his fault (_maybe, all his fault...)_

If he hadn't pushed her so hard about what they felt, if he hadn't kissed her back (_who was he kidding? of course he wouldn't have been able to not kiss her back..)_

She wanted to protect Jude so badly, she was willing to run away to try and do it - and, however stupid, and dumb her way of trying to protect Jude was, he still had to admire the courage and determination she had when it came to keeping Jude safe, and happy.

Even if he did want to kill her for running away.

"But why would she leave?"

Brandon looked up as Marianna spoke.

"I thought she was happy here." Marianna continued. "She looked so happy when Moms told her they wanted her and Jude to be a part of our family. _Why _would she leave?"

Brandon looked across the room, making brief eye contact with Jude, who was still cuddled in close to Lena. His sobs had stopped, but the tear tracks still glistened on his cheeks, and Brandon knew he had to say something. They needed to know. Moms, they wouldn't make Jude leave. He was confident enough in his moms good hearts to know they wouldn't make a little boy without no one else in the world leave, and without his sister.

"I know." Brandon said. "I know why."

Stef looked at her son in shock. "B? What do you mean?"

"Callie and I.. Uh, before the wedding, we kissed." Brandon admitted. "Callie, she was afraid the both of you would find out, and she didn't want Jude to get kicked out of here. I think that's why she left. Because of me." He didn't realise he was crying until Stef pulled him into her arms, Sharon passing him a tissue with what was probably supposed to be a comforting look.

"I'm s-sorry." Brandon said. "I k-know we shouldn't have, it's just-"

"Ssh, ssh." Stef said, rubbing his back in slow circles. "We'll talk about it later, okay? Lets just, focus on figuring out how to find Callie. Ssh Brandon, it's okay. Its going to be okay."

"How?" Brandon asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.

"Because, we're not going to give up until we bring her home." Stef said, looking back at the rest of their family. "We're going to find her, okay? We just need to think hard. Is there anywhere she could have gone?"

"She loves the beach." Marianna said quietly. "She, she said it a while back. She likes the beach a lot. I know its a long shot, she wouldn't be that stupid, but.."

"Anywhere is a good place to start." Mike said. "I'll go and start checking the beaches, okay?"

"I'll help." Stewart said. "You'll need an extra pair of eyes."

"I know this is tough Jude honey, but I need you to think for us." Lena said quietly. "Is there anywhere Callie would have gone? Anyone she would have gone to?"

Jude looked like he was thinking as hard as he could. "We don't have anyone." He said. "There's no one she would have gone to."

"Is there any place that's special to her?" Lena asked. "A town, a city, a street, anywhere?"

Jude shook his head. "I don't think so. I'm sorry."

"Its okay sweets." Stef said. "Its okay. We'll just keep looking for her, we'll just keep looking. Lena, love, will you and Jude stay here in case Callie comes back to the house?"

Lena nodded.

"I can take my skateboard and check around the neighbourhood." Jesus said.

"I'll go with him." Marianna said. "I'll take my old bike, and go with him."

Sharon took her keys from the table. "I'll take the car and start driving around town, see if I can see her anywhere."

Stef nodded. "Can you take the north side of the city mom? I'll do the south, we'll cover more ground if we do different areas."

"Of course."

Dana stood up, setting her mug on the counter. "I'll go with Sharon."

"Okay." Stef nodded. "Okay. Do we all have phones?"

A chorus of yeses ran around the kitchen.

"Keep in contact, okay?" Lena warned.

"And everyone be back here by four." Stef said. "Okay, lets go."

"Can I come with you mom?" Brandon asked quietly.

Stef nodded. "Of course."

Brandon nodded, and followed his mom out to the car, sliding silently into the passenger seat.

"I'm sorry." He said as Stef pulled into the street, the car speeding up. "I know foster siblings aren't allowed to hook up, I know its forbidden, I just.. Can't help how I feel, I guess."

Stef looked thoughtful. "I can understand not helping how you feel Brandon, and I don't want to be the kind of mom who tells you who you can and can't date, but I don't have a choice in these rules."

"I'm sorry." It seemed to be the only thing he could say now.

"I know you are B, and I know neither you or Callie intended for anything to turn out like this." Stef said. "But you should.. You should have been more careful. I wish you had been more careful."

"Whats going to happen to Callie if we find her?"

"When." Stef corrected. "_When _we find her."

"What's going to happen to her mom?"

"If we don't find her by this afternoon ourselves, Lena and I are going to have to alert her social worker, and CPS, and she'll be classed as a runaway." Stef said. "And then it'll be up to them to find her."

"And then what?"

"Because she ran away, they'll have to reassess her case." Stef said.

"They'll want to know why she ran away, won't they?"

Stef nodded. "Yeah B, they'll want to know."

"And if she tells them, they'll put her into a group home."

"You don't know that-"

"She told me, when she told me why we couldn't ever.. you know.." Brandon said. "They'll class her as sexually volatile, and they'll put her into a group home."

"We're not going to let that happen."

"You can't promise that mom." Brandon said.

"No, but we're family, and that counts for a lot." Stef said. "Family doesn't give up on each other B, and I can promise you that we're going to make sure Callie okay."

"I know I'm not meant to feel the way I do about her mom, but I do." Brandon said after a silence. "And I need to know she's okay. I need her around."

"I know love, I know." Stef said. "We all need her around now."

Brandon turned his head to look out the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of Callie. "I hope we find her before we need to report her missing."

Stef looked at her son sadly. "I do too B. I really do."

* * *

"This is all my fault." Jude said quietly as he helped Lena stack the now clean mugs in the cupboard.

"Oh, honey, its not-"

"I saw her and Brandon kissing." Jude said. "I couldn't help it, I was so angry. I thought, I thought if you found out you and Stef wouldn't want to keep us anymore. I thought she was going to ruin everything, and I t-told her, I told her she was being selfish, and I told her she always ruined everything. She left because I was so awful to her Lena, I bet she hates me."

"Jude," Lena said, crouching in front of him, taking his hands in hers. "Callie loves you more than anyone in the whole world. If anything, she left because she thought she was protecting you. Callie doesn't hate you, and don't you ever think that. You are loved not only by Callie, but by all of us. And it is going to be okay, I promise you. I promise you it's going to be fine. We're going to find Callie, and we're going to sort all this out."

"So you don't want to get rid of me?"

"You're a part of our family Jude. I would never get rid of you." Lena said. "Come here sweetheart." She pulled him into her arms, hugging him tightly.

"I want her to come home Lena." Jude said softly.

"And she will." Lena said. "We have so many people out looking for her, we'll have to find her."

"Thank you Lena."

"You don't need to thank me sweetheart." Lena said. "We're family, and this is what family do. We love each other, and protect each other. Its part of the contract."

She got a tiny smile from Jude for her words.

"Thats better." Lena said softly. "Now, how about we do something to try and take our minds off all of this?"

* * *

Jude and Lena were sitting at the kitchen island, half heartedly attempting to work through Jude's maths homework, Lena's eyes constantly moving to the clock, to her phone, Jude not really there at all, his mind on his sister.

They both looked up hopefully as the front door opened and closed, and people began to troop in. Mike and Stewart were first, Mike shaking his head sadly at Lena.

Lena gave Jude's shoulder a squeeze, trying to keep the boy calm.

Marianna and Jesus were next, the two teenagers looking completely worn out.

_Nothing._

They were closely followed by Sharon, and Dana, the soft kiss Dana pressed to Lena's head telling her everything she needed to know.

_They hadn't found her either._

Stef, and Brandon were their last hope, and when they trooped through the door twenty minutes later, Brandon looking completely disheartened, Lena knew they hadn't had any luck either.

"Jesus, Marianna, how about you take Jude into the living room, you can show him that cool game you're always talking about Jesus." Lena said softly, Jesus and Marianna getting the message.

"Come on." Marianna said, holding out a hand for Jude. "When we get bored, we can watch a movie."

When Marianna, Jesus and Jude were gone, Lena looked at Stef worriedly. "What are we going to do?"

"We don't have any choice." Stef said. "We need to contact her social worker, and call the cops. We have to report this to CPS now."

"I'll get the phone." Lena sighed.

Brandon sat down at the kitchen table, and watched as over the next few hours Bill arrived, cops arrived, and Callie was reduced to words like 'the subject' 'the girl', reduced to yet another statistic, another runaway kid, another pain in CPS's ass.

But she was so much more than that, she was Callie, she was a Foster, and she wasn't a pain in the ass (_well, she was their pain in the ass..)_

He looked at his completely silent phone, the notifications from Talya a reminder of the fact the one girl he wanted to talk to, the person he needed around, wasn't there.

_Please come home Callie._

_Please._

* * *

**_note:_**_ After the finale, I couldn't not write a follow up fic - I need to do something to make the wait until January seem bearable, right? Anyway, this is going to be a multichaptered fic, and feedback is very much appreciated!_


	2. two

Nightmares used to plague Brandon when he was a child. From the ages of four, to maybe five, five and a half, he could barely remember a night's sleep that didn't involved some kind of nightmare. Most of them were small, a few flashing seconds of something too terrifying to put a name to hat would wake him with a jolt, his heart racing. There was bad ones too, bad ones that would end in him waking up, screaming his lungs out, his mom crouched by his bed, trying to calm him down, his dad standing in the doorway, unsure of what to do, until eventually, it was just him, and his mom together.

His mom used to make the nightmares go away. She would clamber in beside Brandon, and cuddle him close, telling him stories, and fairytales, and lulling him to sleep with her soft, comforting voice, her stories of nothing but good, and happiness. His mom, she never left him to get himself back to sleep after a nightmare. She was always there to make sure he fell asleep, and had nothing but good dreams the next time his head hit the pillow, and his eyes closed.

And, when Lena moved in, he gained another mom. When he would have a nightmare, Stef would still clamber in beside him, but Lena, she would be there too, sitting on the edge of the bed, occasionally adding a quiet comment to the story, giving Brandon a reassuring, warm smile. Those were the nights he woke everyone up because of the nightmares. There was nights when no one would hear him, when he would wake up completely terrified and drenched in a cold sweat - but those nights, they always turned out okay too, because he would sneak into Stef, and Lena's room, and he'd cuddle into his mom, his tiny five year old self barely taking up any room in the king size bed. Stef never cared if he snuck into their bed, and Lena, well, she didn't either.

Stef was the best mom in the world, she always had been - Brandon had never felt alone, never felt consumed by the nightmares because he knew Stef would be there, and that she would make it all better.

That's what his mom did, she made it better. That's what his _moms _did, they made it better, they made the nightmares go away.

But, in the few days since Callie upped and left, Brandon had barely gotten a wink of sleep, his head filled with every bad scenario, every bad thing that could have happened to Callie in the hours since she left the Fosters home. Was she lying in an alley somewhere, alone, and cold, and hungry? Or, worse, was she lying half dead in an alley somewhere, having been attacked, or, or - _anything._

And, without fail, every nightmare ended with him not being able to save her. Always. Maybe it was his subconscious telling him he really couldn't save her, or maybe he had watched too much Criminal Minds in his lifetime, but either way, the nightmares terrified him. Terrified him more than then the now sixteen year old Brandon cared to admit.

They had turned him into a zombie, a barely functioning zombie. He hadn't been to school since Callie ran away, however much his moms tried to make him go. He couldn't go, and sit in a classroom, and learn about things he didn't care about with people he didn't really care about when Callie was out there somewhere, when she needed to be found.

The nightmares were only getting worse the longer they went without finding Callie, the longer they spent searching the city, the more meetings they had with CPS, and Bill.. It had been nearly two days and Brandon knew he wouldn't get a wink of sleep that night (_if ever again..)_

His head barely had to hit the pillow before the nightmares started.

It was like five year old Brandon had come back when Brandon kicked back his covers, and got out of bed, heading to Stef and Lena's room as though on autopilot.

"Mom?" He said softly, pushing open the door.

"B? Are you okay honey?"

"I can't sleep." Brandon admitted. "I keep having nightmares."

Stef sat up, pushing her hair back off her face. "Come here sweets, come here." She pulled back the covers, patting her side of the mattress.

Brandon thankfully slid in beside his mom, the situation feeling all too familiar as Stef pulled the covers up around them, putting an arm around her son.

"Its going to be okay B." Stef said quietly, holding onto him tightly. "Its going to be okay."

"I can't help but think the worse." Brandon admitted. "I keep thinking that somethings happened to her, that she's hurt, or-"

"Sssh, ssh B." Stef said. "Don't think like that. You're only going to keep giving yourself nightmares if you do."

"I can't help it." Brandon said, his tone completely, well, helpless.

"Callie's a strong girl." Stef said. "She knows how to take care of herself. There's so many people looking for her, we have to find her soon. We'll find her before anything can happen to her."

"I miss her mom."

"I miss her too love, I really do." Stef said, and she did - she had really taken a shine to the girl, and all she wanted there and then was to find her, and bring her home safely. The problems wouldn't end there, no way, but it would be a start - they could figure out the situation with her and Brandon, somehow. Stef, she just wanted the girl she'd started to consider a member of her family to come home.

"I wish she'd call us, or text or something. I just want to know if she's okay."

"We'll find her soon." Stef said. "Someone will. Just, try and get some sleep B. You're tired, and tomorrow's a whole new day. Tomorrow's a whole new day."

* * *

"WYATT!"

Brandon looked up from the bowl of cereal he wasn't eating as Marianna burst into the kitchen, looking excited, waving her phone around. Wyatt wasn't exactly the person he wanted to talk about now (or, ever.)

"Marianna, love, what are you talking about?" Stef asked.

"Wyatt!" Marianna repeated. "I don't know why I didn't think of it before - Wyatt, did anyone call Wyatt?"

"Didn't he move or something?" Jesus said.

"That doesn't mean he mightn't know where she is." Marianna said. "He might have some clue to give us. Its worth a try, isn't it?"

"Of course, of course it is!" Lena said. "Does anyone have Wyatt's number?"

"Its in Callie's phone." Marianna said, holding it up.

"Give it here." Brandon said, taking the phone out of his sister's hand before she could protest. He hit Wyatt's number, holding the cellphone to his ear, listening anxiously to the dialling tone. It seemed to ring _forever, and ever _and Brandon's heart was in his mouth as he listened, ninety nine percent certain it was going to ring out - until, Wyatt eventually answered.

"_Hello?"_

"Wyatt?"

* * *

Wyatt looked over at Callie, who was gazing absently out the car window.

_Nothing new._

She had been sitting in virtually the same position since they had started driving, either staring out the window, out the windscreen, down at her hands.. She wasn't talking much, either. OK, maybe she never spoke a lot in the first place, but it was getting ridiculous now. Callie had managed to make it through the entire state of New Mexico without saying a word, which had to be some kind of record.

He was worried about her. He wouldn't be a good friend if he wasn't worried. Knowing how she felt about Brandon, Wyatt figured her need to get out of San Diego had to do with him, and the Fosters. She wasn't talking, and she didn't like she was about to anytime soon, so it was all guesswork, really - but, Wyatt considered himself quite perceptive.

Plus, there was no way in hell Stef and Lena would let her go and randomly go and drive cross country to Indiana just for _fun._

She was running from something, and she was trying to get as far away as she possibly could.

Wyatt's phone lit up, his ringtone filling the deathly silent car. He reached for it, looking at the caller ID in confusion.

_Callie?_

"Hello?" Wyatt answered, one hand still on the wheel as they drove along the highway leisurely.

"_Wyatt?"_

It might have been laced with worry, but Wyatt would recognise that voice anywhere. "Brandon?"

* * *

**note; **Okay, I wholeheartedly apologise that 1) this took so long to update (real life got hectic, and trust me, I'd have preferred to be writing fic) and 2) It's so short I'm sorry! I have the next chapter started, but this seemed to be the best place to cut it. The rest of the fic will be longer, I promise. Now I've gotten all those apologies out of the way, can I just say thank you? Because the response to the first chapter of this was bloody _mental! _Honestly, thank you so much for the reviews, and the alerts, and seriously, thank you. Its very motivating (even if this chapter took ages..)

Again, feedback is most appreciated!


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